Track-sanding apparatus.



PATENTED JAN. 2, 1906.

F. W. WITTKO-WSKI.

TRACK SANDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.27. 1905.

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FRIEDRICH W. WITTKOWSKI, OF DES MOINES, IOWA.

TRACK-SAN DING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2, 1906.

Application filed February 2'7, 1905. Serial No. 247,557

ing at Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Track Sanding Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The objects of my invention are to provide a sanding device for street-railway cars which is designed to be controlled by the motorman standing at the front platform of the car and is to be regulated by him by the operation of a single lever, with which a large or small flow of sand from the sand-box is regulated.

A further object is to provide a sanding device the pipe in which is so constructed that it will swing with the front truck, so as to sand the track at curves as well as when the track is straight. In the ordinary sanding device this result is not accomplished, and the track at curves in the ordinary streetrailway track has to be sanded by hand, thus causing a great deal of unnecessary delay.

My invention consists in certain details in the construction, arrangement, and combi nation of the various parts of the device whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fi ure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the front portion of the car, showing my sanding device attached to it. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the upper portion of the sand-pipe, showing the way in which the swinging pipe is attached to the pipe leading from the sand-box. This view is taken on a line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig.3 is an inverted plan view of the front portion of the street-railway car, showing in dotted lines the trucks swung to one side as they would be swung in taking the curve. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the collar which supports the lower end of the sand-pipe. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the lower portion of the sand-pipe, showing the lug which is attached to the sand-pipe and which works in the slot in the collar shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the device for supporting the upper end of the sand-pipe.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I have used the reference-numeral 10 to. indicate the floor of the car, the reference-numeral 11 to indicate the front truck of the car, andnumeral 12 to indicate one of the front wheels of the front truck. The truck is mounted on the track 13, which is the ordinary street-railway track.

Mounted near the forward end of the floor of the car and above it is the ordinary sandbox 14, having the inclined bottom 15 therein. Leading from the lower portion of the inclined bottom and extending through it is the pipe 16, having the collar 17 encircling it.

Slidingly mounted beneath the floor of the car and entering the pipe 16 is the shut-off slide 18, which has the rod 19 attached to its forward end, which is normally held at its rearward limit of'movement by this spring 20, which spring holds the slide in its closed position.

Extending through the bottom of the car and pivotally attached to it is the lever 21, which lever is pivotally and slidingly connected with the rod 19, so that when the lever is moved forwardly and rearwardly the slide will be moved forwardly and rearwardly, the slide being actuated in the opposite direction from the upper end of the lever.

Extending forwardly from the forward portion of the car and adjacentto the lever is the rack 22, having a series of teeth therein, each of which is designed to normally hold the lever in position when the lever is in engagement with itthat is, when one of the teeth engages the lever 21 said teeth will hold the lever in position. By operating this lever and placing it against the proper tooth the slide 18 can be set to the desired position for increasing or diminishing or entirely shut- 1ting off the flow of the sand from the sand- Extending through the floor of the car are two rods-23 and 24, which have attached to their ends a substantially U-shaped springing member 25, the parts'of which are nearer together at the points 26 and 27 than at the points 28 and 29, so that when the points 26 and 27 are sprung away from each other to admit a circular pipe, so that when the pipe is admitted to engage the points 28 and 29 the points 26 and 27 of the U-shaped portion will approach each other and support rotatably the upper end of the pipe, as hereinafter described. By unscrewing the nuts 30 and 31, respectively, the rods 23 and 24 can be removed to detach the sand-pipe, to be hereinafter described.

Rotatably mounted in the U-shaped por tion 25 is the pipe 32, which has the circular flange 33 at its upper-end to engage the upper portion of the substantially U-shaped member 25 and also engage the circular collar 17, so that the pipe 32 will rotate freely between these parts. Pivotally attached to and communicating with the pipe 32 is the pipe 33, which telescopes with a pipe 34 below and behind it. This pipe 34 has pivotally attached to its lower end the pipe 35, which pipe has on one side of it the curved lug 36, which lug is designed to operate in the circular slot 37 of the pipe-supportingmember 38, which is securely attached to the forward end of the truck 11, as shown clearly in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The pipes 32, 33, 34, and 35 are termed for the sake of convenience the sand-pipe, and when the sand-pipe simply is referred to without designating a portion of the pipe by number the entire pipe is meant.

In practical use and assuming that the sand-pipe is connected with the sand-box, as indicated above, and that the slide 18 is closed, the operator simply has to operate the lever to open the valve and allow the sand to flow through the sand-pipe and onto the track. The lower end of this pipe will follow the track constantly in the same way that the front truck follows the track, owing to the fact that the two pipes 33 and 34, which are a portion of the sand-pipe, telescope and owing to the fact that the lower pipe 35 is rotatably secured to the front portion of the truck 11 and also that the pipe 32 is rotatably secured beneath the carfloor.

By the use of my sanding device a perfect sanding of the track is had at all timesthat is, curved portions of the track can be sanded as easily as the straight track and as much or as little sand can be placed upon the track as is desired.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States therefor, is

1. In a device of the class described a carfloor, a swinging truck connected with the floor, a sand-box mounted adjacent to the floor, a sand-pipe rotatably mounted and communicating with the sand-box, and also rotatably connected with the forward end of the truck, so that the lower end of the sandpipe is immediately in front of the forward wheels of the truck, and a telescoping portion in the sand-pipe, so arranged that the pipe will be allowed to swing with the swinging of the truck.

2. In a device of the class described a carfloor, a swinging truck connected with the floor, a sand-box mounted adjacent to the floor, a sand-pipe rotatably mounted and communicating with the sandbox, and also rotatably connected with the forward end of the truck, so that the lower end of the sand pipe is immediately in front of the forward wheels of the truck, and a telescoping portion in the sand-pipe, so arranged that the pipe will be allowed to swing with the swinging of the truck means for regulating the flow of sand from the sand-box through the sandp In a device of the class described a carfloor, a swinging truck, connected with the floor, a sand-box mounted adjacent to the floor, a sand-pipe rotatably mounted and communicating with the sand-box and also rotatably connected with the forward end of the truck, so that the lower end of the sandpipe is immediately in front of the forward wheels of the truck means for regulating the flow of sand from the sand-box through the sand-pipe, and a lever and a ratchet-faced portion, to be engaged by said lever for setting and maintaining the means for regulating the flow of sand through the sand-pipe.

4. In a device of the class described a carfioor, a swinging truck connected with the floor, a sand-box mounted adjacent to the floor, a sand-pipe rotatably mounted and communicating with the sand-box, and also rotatably connected with the forward end of the truck, so that the lower end of the sandpipe is immediately in front of the forward wheels of the truck, a telescoping portion in the sand-pipe, so arranged that the pipe will be allowed to swing with the swinging of the truck means for regulating the flow of sand from the sand-box through the sand-pipe, a lever and a ratchet-faced portion to be engaged by said lever for setting and maintaining the means for regulating the flow of sand through the sand-pipe. 7

Des Moines, Iowa, February 4, 1905.

FRIEDRICH W; WITTKOWSKI.

Witnesses:

J. B. SMUTNEY, W. R. LANE. 

